


Promises

by CatelynStark956



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:08:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29445330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatelynStark956/pseuds/CatelynStark956
Summary: Arya is very worried about her mother after finding out that she is pregnant and Catelyn tries to soothe her. And it turns out that Ned shares his daughter’s fears
Relationships: Arya Stark & Catelyn Tully Stark, Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	Promises

“Father?” Arya’s little voice piped up.

“Yes?” Ned asked.

“Do you love Mother?”

All of them looked up at her. Arya had many questions. Too many for her own good, but they always tried to answer to the best of their abilities. That question made Catelyn curious though. Not because she doubted what Ned felt for her. He loved her, just as she loved him. But because of the tone in Arya’s voice. Her youngest daughter could be serious as death, that she had after her father, but she usually didn’t get like that when she had no reason for it.

“I do love your mother” Ned said.

“Is it true that having a babe can be dangerous?” Arya continued and glared at her father.

Catelyn leaned towards her and put a hand on her shoulder. She wouldn’t lie about that. Having a babe could be dangerous, the risk of something happing to her in childbirth was higher than one might have liked. But there was no need to be harsh either.

“It can be” she said. “But why do you ask about all this, sweetling?”

They had told the children that she was with child the night before. And they had all been very happy when they heard it. Bran had been overjoyed to hear that he wouldn’t be the youngest anymore, he hated being coddled. But clearly something about it was irking Arya. Catelyn had a feeling of that she had been thinking of it during the night and decided to bring it up when they broke their fast.

The girl didn’t look at Catelyn when she spoke, she kept her eyes focused on Ned.

“Why would you put the babe in Mother if it could hurt her?”

“You should not ask that” Sansa said. “Father would never do anything to hurt Mother!”

“Arya, I promise you that I would never do anything to hurt your mother” Ned said. “Never.”

“But you did. She can get very hurt. And it would be your fault.”

Catelyn saw how Ned almost physically flinched at that. He seemed to be desperately looking for words, but he found nothing. Arya’s words had hurt him no matter if she meant to or not.

“Arya!” she said sharply. “Enough!”

“I’m not wrong!”

Only then did Arya look at her and she saw the stone hard Stark eyes.

“You should not be accusing your father of trying to hurt me, apologize immediately!”

“No!”

Arya pushed out her chair before Catelyn had time to grab her arm and fled the room while the rest of them just stared after her.

Catelyn glanced at Ned, trying to get a hold of the situation, but he wouldn’t look back at her. He just stared down at the plate before him.

“I don’t understand” Robb said after a while.

“Neither do I” Sansa said. “But I never understand her. She’s strange.”

“Don’t say that about your sister” Catelyn said.

“Sorry.”

Sansa and Arya fought like cat and dog, but Catelyn wanted them out of that habit. Because both of them could be infuriating at times, but they were family. They had to stay together.

“We need to talk to her” Catelyn said and rose from her chair as well. “I would like to know what that was about.”

Ned frowned.

“You should go, my lady. I will be of no help, she will not want to speak to me.”

Arya was stubborn as an ox and if she didn’t want to speak to a person her lips were sealed. Once she had refused to speak to Catelyn for four days because she had told her not to play alone in the stables because she might get hurt by the horses. Arya was a scrawny little thing and Catelyn really didn’t want her to get kicked to death by one of the large stallions. Arya had not agreed with that though, she had insisted on that she was careful and wouldn’t get hurt. And then she had refused to speak.

“Yes. Might I come to you afterwards?”

Whatever it was that was gnawing on their daughter’s mind she would most likely want to share it with him.

“Of course.”

She left him there with the remaining three of their litter. Bran got a little bit fussy, but it seemed to be alright. So she began the search for Arya. She made her way through the Great Keep, and found nothing. Arya had left the keep and that would make it a lot harder to find her. Winterfell was big, and there were many good places to stay hidden if you did not want to be found. And despite that it did not take long for Catelyn to find her youngest daughter. Curled up behind a haystack in the back of the stables, of course.

“Arya?”

The little girl looked up at her, but only after having dried her tears with the sleeves of her dress. She had been crying, the poor thing.

“How did you know where I was?” she sniffled when Catelyn sat down next to her and arranged her skirts around her.

“Mothers just know those things” she said.

“Your dress will get dirty.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Catelyn could only smile at the wonder on Arya’s face at that statement.

“But that was not what I wanted to talk to you about, Arya. Why are you upset?”

Immediately Arya tensed and looked down at the floor. She bit her lip and started fiddling with a hay straw.

“I don’t want you to die” she said after a while and her voice broke at the last word.

Catelyn reached for her and Arya immediately threw herself into her arms. She held her close and stroke her hair while Arya cried into her chest. She could not help but feel happy for that Arya accepted her comfort. Because often she did not. Despite her young age Arya was determined on being independent.

“I’m not going to die, sweetling.”

“You cannot know that! No one can!”

Once she was done with that she would have to find out who had put all the thoughts of death and destruction in Arya’s head. Who had put into Arya that her mother would die.

“Childbirth is not without risk, but I will have people to help me. Like they helped me with you and your siblings. And they would never let me die. Not that I would die either way, I refuse to die. I will not leave you, and your siblings, and your father behind.”

No. That she wouldn’t do. Not for very long, if she could have it her way. And even if something would happen to her when she birthed the babe it would do them no good to brood over it before it happened.

“Really?”

It was foolish to make promises that she had no power over. She was well aware of that. Her fate was in the gods’s hands. But Arya was a child, she needed comfort. And Catelyn would not tell her that she had to prepare herself for that her mother might die.

“Yes. I promise.”

That seemed to calm Arya at least a bit. Catelyn cupped her daughter’s face and dried the tears on her cheeks. She was a sweet girl. Fierce as a direwolf, but kind and caring. And Catelyn knew that she couldn’t promise that she would survive, that she was luckier than many to have managed four births without much harm, but in that moment she decided that she would fight the Stranger with tooth and nail and win if it came for her. She would stay with her family. She would not die.

“So now when we know that I will not die, may I ask you another question?”

“Yes” Arya said.

She snuggled up against Catelyn once more. Sitting on the floor amongst the hay was beginning to get very uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to ruin whatever was in the air at the moment. The heavy things that needed to be sorted out was not yet over and it would be easier if Arya kept talking to her.

“Why did you accuse your father of trying to hurt me?”

Arya was quiet for a moment.

“He knows that it can be dangerous. And still he put the babe in you. Why would he do that if he loves you?”

Catelyn desperately looked for a way to tell Arya that Ned had given her the babe because he loved her. Arya knew that it took a man and a woman to make a child, but since she was six she didn’t know exactly what they had to do in order to create a child.

“He did not give me the child to hurt me. He gave me the child because we both wanted it. Because we love you and your siblings and we want to have more children” she explained. “And he would never do anything to cause me harm. You need not worry, sweetling.”

“It’s stupid!”

“What is stupid?”

“That it’s dangerous to have babies. If you need to have them, why is it dangerous?”

Catelyn chuckled when Arya scrunched up her face.

“The gods made us imperfect and flawed. It is a burden women must bear.”

“Well, it’s a stupid burden!”

“Yes, it is a stupid burden.”

So many children had lost their mothers to that burden. That burden had taken Catelyn’s own mother from her. She knew the pain of it. And she wouldn’t lie to herself, she was at times terrified of that it would take her as well, that she would die in childbed. But she didn’t want her children to know that pain. Not until she was old and ready for it. And she did not want to think too much about it.

“Does it feel better now?” she asked.

Arya just nodded and Catelyn smiled at her.

“Good. You need to run to your lesson with Maester Luwin. Tell him that you are late because I needed to speak with you.”

“He won’t believe me. He never does.”

“Simply send him to me if he does not believe you and I shall deal with him.”

Arya grinned and hugged her tightly.

“I love you, Mother.”

“I love you more, sweetling. But now go.”

Arya scrambled up from the floor and ran out of the stables.

~*~

“My love, do you have a minute to spare?”

Ned looked up at her.

“For you I always have a minute to spare. Please join me, my lady.”

Catelyn closed the door to the solar behind her. Then she walked over and sat opposite to Ned in the chair before his desk.

“Might I ask what happened to you?” he said and nodded towards her skirts.

She had not bothered to change into a clean gown before going to see him. It really did not matter, just like she had told Arya.

“Arya was hiding in the stables, I sat down to speak with her there” she said. “Therefore all the dust.”

“I see. And what did she say?”

“She is afraid of that I will die in childbed.”

It was like a shadow crossed Ned’s face when she said that. He turned his gaze away from her, looked at a point above her head instead.

“And if you did it would be my fault” he said in a low voice.

She really could see where Arya had got the brooding from. She was much like her father at times.

“Don’t be silly, of course it would not be your fault.”

“If you died birthing one of my children it would be my fault. Who else do you think would be at fault?”

Catelyn sighed. Why did everyone think she would die? Could they all lighten up a bit? They spoke like her death was certain when it was very much not.

“Sometimes no one is at fault, Ned. Sometimes it is simply the will of the gods” she said.

“Curse the gods, both old and new, if they take you from me.”

She left her chair and walked around the desk so that she stood before him.

“Where does all this come from?” she asked. “I am with child and that is a wonderful blessing. We should be happy.”

He had been very happy when she told him, she had no idea about when all the rest had came. And she had no idea about what it was.

“And I am happy, Catelyn” Ned said and took one of her hands into his. “But I am also terrified of losing you. And I despise putting your life at risk when we have four healthy children already. I do not know what I would do if you were to come to harm because you need to bear my children.”

“You speak like you force me to bear children for you. Was I not a willing participant in making this child?”

She had been willing enough. Quite shamelessly willing, if she could say so herself. Septa Mordane would have been horrified. So she really did not understand where Ned had got the idea that she felt forced to have his children from. She would not have made love with him if she had not wanted his children.

“I just don’t want you to feel that you have to. Because you don’t. With this one we will have five, and that is more than enough. I love our children. But I don’t want to lose you. Ever.”

“I wanted this child. Your child. And you will not lose me, I promised Arya that I will live and I’m not one to break my promises” she smiled. “But we will have more children.”

“Catelyn–“

She raised a finger to his lips to silence him.

“We are still not old. I will most likely get pregnant again unless you plan on not warming my bed after this child is born.”

Ned scowled at that and she had to chuckle. It was very endearing. She leaned down and kissed him. Softly and quickly, but she tried to put into it all the comfort she had.

“Can you promise me as well?” he asked when she stood up straight again.

“What?”

“Can you promise that you will not die?”

Catelyn leaned against the desk and looked at him. Her husband, the father of her children. The man she loved and never wanted to leave.

“I promise that I will not leave you.”

Could she really make that promise? Just as before, no. But would she still do it? Yes. That promise would give them comfort, and comfort was what they needed. And she also hoped that it would keep Ned in her bed. Because she knew that if he got worried enough he would most likely stop with making love to her. And that she really did not want to give up.

“You better not” he muttered

She laughed.

“Are we done with brooding now?” she asked. “Can we move past this?”

Ned only rolled his eyes.

“Would you please stay and help me with this?” he said and gestured to the papers before him.

Just a quick glance at them told her that he absolutely did not need any assistance with them. He merely didn’t want her to leave. But he would never admit to that. And if she was going to be honest with herself she did not want to leave him either.

She leaned down and kissed him once more.

“Of course.”

Six moons later Catelyn Stark birthed a healthy babe. A boy they named Rickon. And she did not die. Just like she had promised.


End file.
